What does our future hold in terms of how our information is collected? How can we know our information is safe?

It's a question people at SRI International are trying to answer.

SRI is a research non-profit located in Silicon Valley that's helping to develop technology that become staples of everyday life, like the computer mouse and the technology behind Siri.

“I really enjoy being part of the future, trying to imagine what the future is and live in that future as much as possible," says SRI's Patrick Lincoln.

Lincoln is the Director of the Computer Science Laboratory at SRI. He and his team work to understand security and privacy aspects of the "internet of things."

"The internet of things is growing world where everything is a computer,” Lincoln explains. “Where your refrigerator and your car [are] a computer.”

Lincoln says with that growing world he believes there is more recognition that computer security matters and private information should stay private.

"There are, unfortunately, threats to that based on the vulnerabilities out there in the world and your devices and as well as the internet,” he says.

He says giving the guarantee of security in today's world is hard, but he's optimistic progress can be made towards that goal.

“The good news is there’s brilliant people engaged in this topic, trying to understand the concerns and identify ways to move forward and provide security and privacy for people’s data out there in the internet,” Lincoln says. “There is a great deal of progress being reported in academic conferences in how we encrypt data and yet protect the privacy of the data that’s used.”